Combined cotton chopper and cultivator.



No. 788,018. PATENTED APR. 25, 1905. W. M. ARNOLD.

COMBINED COTTON CHOPPER AND GULTIVATOR.

APPLIUATION FILED MAE. 29,1904.

2 sums-45mm 1.

N0. 788,013. PATENTED 'APR. 25, 1905. W. M. ARNOLD.

COMBINED COTTON CHOPPER AND GULTIVATOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAE. 29,1004.

2 SHBETB-SEEBT 2.

V I ,Q,

Patented Aprii 25, 1905.

WILLARD MILES ARNOLD, OF W YN NElVOOl), INDIAN 'IERRYIORY.

COMBINED COTTON CHOPPER AND CULTIVATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 788,013, dated April25, 1905.

application tiled March 29, 1904. Serial No. 200,595.

To rli/ who/i1 it nuu (once/'11..-

Be it known that I, YILLARD MiLEs AR- .voLi), a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Wynnewood, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined CottonChopper and Cultivator; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention has relation to combined cotton choppers and cultivators;and it con sits of certain novel features of construction andcombination of parts, the preferred form whereof will be hereinafterclearly set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

The prime object of my invention, among others, is to provide a combinedcotton-chopping machine and a cultivator for the rows of growing cotton,both operations being performed at the same time in a thoroughly ef-Figure 1. shows a top plan view of my iiivention complete ready for use.Fig. 2 is a sectional view of my machine on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, showingparts of the machine in side elevation. Fig. 3 is a sectional view ofFig.

1, taken on line I) 0. Fig. 4 is a sectional view of my machine, takenon line '-1 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a part of theframe of the machine, showing manner of adjusting the upper and lowersections thereon, while Fig. 6 is a sectional view of Fig. 5, taken online 6 6.

In order to conveniently refer to the various details of my inventionand the cooperating accessories, numerals will be employed, the samenumeral applying to a corresponding part throughout the several views.

Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 indicates the carryingwheels, while 2 and 3 designate the side and end bars, respectively, and4 refers to the tongue, to which the draft-aniimils are attached in theusual manner. I also provide the auxiliary frame section 5, which ispivotally secured, as indicated by the numeral (5, to the side bars 2,the said draft tongue 4 being sccured to this auxiliaryframe. Theforward end of the auxiliary frame is supported and guided by the diskwheels or blades 7, rotatably secured to the depending brackets 8, asclearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The forward end of the auxiliaryframe-section is held a proper distance from the main framesections 2 bythe controlling-lever 9, which is pivotally attached to the forward endof one of the side sections 2 in any suitable way, as indicated by thebolt 10, said lever being provided at its lower end with an antifriction-roller 11, designed to bear directly upon the upper side of theauxiliary frame 5, while the upper end of the lever is provided with acontrollingbar 12, extending backward into engagement with theactuating-lever 13, which latter is provided with an auxiliarythumb-lever 14, connected, by means of the rod 15, with the detent 1.6,which latter is designed toengage a segmental rackbar 17, carried by .acontiguous part of the frame. It is therefore obvious that by throwingthe actuating-lever 13 forward the auxiliary and main frame-sectionswill be brought toward each other and that when the actuating-lever 13is thrown backward said frame-sections will be separated from eachother, the result being that the working parts carried by the mainframe-section, as hereinafter explained, will be raised or lowered, asdesired.

My cotton-chopper consists of the toothed disk wheel 18, having atcertain intervals a deeply-formed notch or opening, as indicated by thenumeral 19, there being preferably two of said deeply-cut notches. Theremainder of the peripheral edge of the wheel 18 maybe notched or leftplain, as preferred,

with suitable bearings 21 in the cross-bars the object of the openingsor notches 19 being to insure that a part of the cotton-plants will beleft standing, while the intermediate parts are entirely cut away by theaction of the rotating disk. The disk 18 is rotatably mounted upontheshaft 20, which is provided 22, carried by the main frame-section orside bars 2 and the end members 3, as clearly set forth in Fig. 1. Theshaft 20 is driven at the desired speed by suitable gearing,comprehending in this instance the gear 23, secured to the shaft 20, andthe gear 24, keyed to the shaft 25, which latter also finds suitablebearin 's 26 in a suitable part of the frame, which will bring the gears23 and 24 into cooperation with each other.

I have provided means for driving the shaft 25 at two relative speeds,which con- 'sists in securing to the inner end of the-shaft 25 thedriven gears 27 and 28, both being so disposed upon the end of the shaft25 that they will be independent of each other and, while so secured,that they must rotate with said shaft. They will have a sliding movementthereon, whereby the gear 27 may be brought into mesh with thedriving-gear 28 or disposed out of mesh therewith, as desired, saidcontrol of the gear 27 being secured by means of the lever 29. In likemanner I provide for moving the gear 28 upon the shaft 25, whereby itwill be brought into or out of engagement with the driving-gear 30 bymeans of the controlling-lever 31, each of the levers 29 and 31 havingsuitable rack-bars or detentengaging teeth 32, whereby the gears 27 and28 may be held in an adjusted position either in or out of mesh withtheir respective driving-gear. It will be seen that the drivinggears 28and 30 are keyed rigidly to the shaft 33, to which the carryingavheelsare secured, said shaft having proper bearings 34 and 35 in a contiguouspart of the side members 2 of the main frame. Furthermore, I provide thecultivating or covering shovels 36 and 37, each having a carrying-beam38, as is common, the forward ends of said beams being pivotally securedto a proper portion of the framework. Each of the plow bars or beams 38is operatively connected with a controlling-lever 39, also having athumb -lever or detent controlling device 40 reaching into engagementwith the detent 41, 006perating with the segmental rack 42, carried bythe frame of the machine. Each of the levers 39 is provided with theangular extension or depending arm 43, as indicated by dotted lines inFig. 2 and by full lines in Fig. 3. Each of the angular extensions 43 isconnected directly with its respective beam 38, as by the link 44, andit is therefore obvious that by throwing the levers 39 forward one ofthe beams 38 may be raised, while said beam may be readily lowered bymoving said lever rearwardly, each of the levers being held in anadjusted position by its respective detent 41 and cooperating segmentalrack 42. By means of the adjustable gears 27 and 28 it is obvious thattwo relative speeds may be imparted to the shaft 25 as desired by theoperatorthat is to say, when the gear 27 is thrown into mesh with thegear 28 the gear 28 will be left out of mesh with the gear 30, and theresult will be that the shaft 25 will be rapidly driven. When, however,it is desired to drive the shaft 25 at a relatively lower speed, thegear 27 will be thrown out of mesh with the gear 28 by simply moving thele ver 29 rearwardly and securing it by means of its detent and itsrack-bar 32. The gear 28 will then be moved into mesh with the gear 30by moving the lever 31 forward and thereupon secure it in an adjustedposition by its rack-bar 32 and cooperating detent, as will be obvious.I have also provided a seat at a convenient point, as indicated by thenumeral 45, whereby the operator will be placed in a convenient positionto control any of the levers which have been provided to accomplish thedifferent results set forth.

It will be observed that the lever 9 is held normally forward by thecompression-spring 46 and that the main and auxiliary framesections areheld normally toward each other by the compression-spring 47, though thelast-mentioned spring may not always be re garded as absolutelyessential, inasmuch as the weight of the main frame-section would besufficient to accomplish the same result. The lower end of thecontrolling-lever, as will be observed, is provided with theantifriction-roller 1 1, designed to travel upon the upper edge of theauxiliary frame-section 5, thus insuring the freedom of action and easycontrol or manipulation of said parts.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a very simple thoughreliablyefficient machine of the character specified, which will notonly so act upon the rows of growing cotton as to leave a desiredquantity of the growing stalks in place, but that the act of choppingthe cotton will be followed by a thorough cultivation thereof throughthe mediation of the cultivator-shovels 36 and 37, which latter may bedisposed at any desired depth in the soil by a proper manipulation ofthe controlling-levers 39, as will be obvious.

Believing that the advantages and construction of my invention have thusbeen made clearly apparent, further description is deemed unnecessary,though it maybe stated that the operation is as follows: The machine isdrawn over the ground in the usual manner, whereby a draft-animal willbe disposed upon either side of the row of growing plants and therotation of the chopping-disk 18 will be properly regulated by means ofthe gears 27 or 28, as preferred, and the result will be that all of thegrowing cotton-plants will be cut away, excepting those left standing bymeans of the open sections or notches 19 provided in the cutting-(fish,it being understood by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 that said cuttingdiskis disposed obliquely to the plane of the row of plants. The plants leftstanding in the row will therefore be at regular intervals and theirdistance apart, or the amount of space left between each group ofplants, will be determined by the speed of rotation of the disk, as willbe clear from the foregoing specification considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a cotton-chopper the combination with a main frame havingsupporting-wheels and a chopper-disk mounted thereon, of an auxiliaryframe pivotally secured to said main frame, supporting means for thefree end of said auxiliary frame, a spring 475 adapted to keep said mainand auxiliary;

frames in juxtaposition to each other, a controlling-lever 9 pivotallysecured to said main frame, an antifriction-roller carried by said leverand adapted to rest upon a con tiguous part of said auxiliary frame, anactuating-lever 13 carried by the main frame and a controlling-barconnecting said. lever 13 and the upper end of said controlling-lever 9,whereby when the lever 13 is actuated the forward end of the main frameand the chopper-disk carried thereby, will be raised or lowered, and aspring to move said lever 9 in the opposite direction when the actuatinglever is released, one end of said spring being secured to the mainframe and the opposite end to the free end of said controllinglever, asset forth.

2. In a cotton-chopper the combination with a main frame carrying achopping-disk, of an auxiliary frame pivotally secured to said mainframe, a spring interposed between the free ends of said main andauxiliary frames adapted to hold the same in juxtaposition to eachother, a controlling-bar pivotally secured to said main frame andcarrying an antifriction-roller at its lower end adapted to engage acontiguous part of the auxiliary frame and means to operate saidcontrollinglever, whereby the forward end of said main frame andchopper-disk carried thereby may be raised or lowered as desired, and aspring secured at one end to the main frame and its opposite end to theupper end of said controlling-lever whereby said lever will be returnedto its normal position when the operating means is released, as setforth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

\VILLARD l\[ILES ARNOLD.

WVitnesses N. G. PERKINS, V. F. EUBANK.

